February on Guadeloupe

‘Iles des Saints, south of the butterfly-shaped main island of Guadeloupe, is our first stop on the way north from Dominica. We drop anchor off of ‘Îlet à Cabrit’ and meet FLUX III again. The next day, we explore this mini-island and enjoy ‘dolce far niente’ at the beach.

We ordered a new dodger in Denmark in August. It is a piece of fabric that protects us from spray, wind, and rain in our cockpit and the companionway, and the old one has been on the boat for over 20 years and needs a replacement. It is now finished and due to be delivered with DHL to Guadeloupe, to the marina ‘Bas-du-Fort’. To take delivery of it, we sail the 20 nautical miles upwind to Pointe-à-Pitre, where we spend a few days. Our friends from FLUX III are in the same marina, so we spend some evenings eating pizza at the local Italian, eating dinner on the boats, and taking a road trip to the western part of Guadeloupe, Basse-Terre.

We hike the adventurous path to the waterfall ‘Cascade de Bis’ and visit a rum distillery, where in the end we just buy a bottle of rum since there is not much more to see or do.

At the beach ‘Plage de Clugny’ in the north-west of the island, we frolic in the waves, drink passion fruit liqueur, and have dinner at a very scenic restaurant ‘La Petite Case’. During our stay on Guadeloupe, every evening at 7 o’clock there was a power outage. Everyone is kind of relaxed about it (it seems that this happens rather frequently), and in restaurants, they hand out candles for the tables and inform about the adjustments that need to be made to the menu until power is restored in the kitchen. After about an hour, the power is back, and everything continues as normal.

The next day, we pick up a mooring buoy in front of the marina at ‘Îlet à Cochons’ and go on another trip by car, this time eastwards to Grande-Terre. We stop in Saint-Anne and Saint-Francois to watch the kitesurfers and then drive to the easternmost tip of Guadeloupe, ‘Pointe des Châteaux’. It is impressive how the Atlantic is relentlessly hitting the rocks on this coast.

We make our way south for another stop at the ‘Ildes des Saints’ and drop anchor in the ‘Anse du Pain Sucre’. Here, we meet the crew of ELLA again, as well as TARZAN. They anchor right next to us, and we spend the evening on this impressive old two-master with a few shots of rum and the kids fool around with water. These island are a bit like southern France, the vibe in the main town ‘Terre-de-Haut’ is trim and well maintained, almost a bit boring compared to the vibrant towns on other islands.

We make chocholate from the cocoa nut that Bouddah gifted to us on Dominica. To do that Joséphine and Silvio ferment the beans for a few days in a banana leaf. After that they are dried in the sun and roasted in our oven. After that we remove the husks and we chop them in our food processor first and later pestle them into a fine paste together with sugar. The resulting chocolate is very robust in taste, slightly more so than store-bought dark chocolate.

With a lovely breeze, we head west along the coast of Guadeloupe. The wind is changing swiftly on the leeward side of the island, and we have to motor a portion of the distance at some point. We rejoin ZOOK at Bouillante and spend time in the hot water that is piped to the sea from the local geothermal plant. Everyone goes for a swim in the warm water, locals and tourists alike float around, preferably with a beer in their hand to watch the sunset.

The next day, we take a tour of the geothermal plant with our family boat friends ZOOK and ELLA. It is France’s first (and only) geothermal plant, separating 260°C water as it departs the well into vapour and water and using the vapour to generate energy. After our plant tour, the Carnival of Bouillante begins in the afternoon, with colourful costumes and Caribbean music.

After a few days in Bouillante we change our anchor spot to the bay of Malendure, where the world-famous ‘Reserve Cousteau’ with ‘Pigeon Island’ lies.

Nach ein paar Tagen in Bouillante wechseln wir den Ankerplatz zur Bucht von Malendure, wo das bekannte ‘Reserve Cousteau’ mit ‘Pigeon Island’ liegt. Wir schnorcheln in dieser wundervollen Welt voller farbiger Fische, Korallen, Aalen und Schildkröten und können fast nicht genug kriegen von dieser faszinierenden Unterwasserwelt. Mit unseren Bootsfreunden schnorcheln wir, nehmen den Apéro beim Sonnenuntergang am schwarzen Sandstrand und schlendern durch den Ort. Silvio schrubbt unser Unterwasser, zuerst mit Schnorchel, dann auch mit der Tauchflasche. Es haben es sich in der Zeit im karibischen Meer schon einige Algen und andere Lebewesen am Rumpf von MIRABELLA gemütlich gemacht.

After we say goodbye to our friends on ZOOK and ELLA almost a week after arriving in Malendure, the crew from ROCINANTE comes to anchor next to us in Malendure. Aurel from Wädenswil, whom Andrea has known for 10 years, is on a tour of the Atlantic with his family since last July. Finally, the time has come and we meet them on their boat! We happily eat and chat together, snorkel on ‘Pigeon Island’ and play on the beach. The three boys are older than our girls, but here too, the age difference is not a problem, as with other friends boats – it is less kindergarten or school with people of the same age, but more like an extended family with whom you spend time, look after each other.

After two days with ROCINANTE we move on to Deshaies before we sail ‘between the butterfly wings’ and later on to Antigua. After we complete the short 10 miles to Deshaies and want to anchor at 20 meters, the anchor windlass, the electric crank that raises and lowers the anchor chain, fails on the second attempt to anchor.

We wait outside the anchorage area because we think the winch is overheated, or is about to, and the thermal fuse has blown. When the winch still doesn’t work again after an hour, we decide to anchor by hand and then by jumpering the cable in the electronics box of the windlass. Our friends from FLUX III are at anchor in the same bay and so we end up very close to them. Of course, we land on their boat shortly after anchoring and spend the evening drinking Shrubb and playing fun card games. It’s getting late and so we return the few meters in the dinghy to Mirabella with sleeping kids in our arms. The next day we explore the place together with Vega and Mette from FLUX III and treat ourselves to a ‘Sorbet Coco’ – really delicious!

FLUX III sails to ‘Îlet à Fajou’ together with the Swedish crew from ALEXANDRA and we follow them. It’s a somewhat rough day of sailing against the wind and we’re happy when we reach the entrance to the reef an hour before sunset, because we still have to take the long route around the reef. But it’s no problem finding a good path through the reef with the help of the iPad and charts and so we anchor next to FLUX III and ALEXANDRA at sunset.

The next day, FLUX III sets off for Antigua. We spend the morning exploring the nature reserve of ‘îlet à Fajou’. After lunch, we move to ‘îlet à Caret’ just 2 miles west. There are only two boats at anchor around a small sand pile and quite a few day trippers. We spend the afternoon and evening on the tiny island with the crew of ALEXANDRA. Kim and Silvio kite surf from the island and the children play in the sand. Norali is almost the same age as Joséphine and Juni is 10 years young, and in love with Chloé. After a beautiful sunset alone on the small island and a beer with ALEXANDRA, we happily head back to Mirabella. The next morning, we put the porridge pan in the dinghy and eat our breakfast in peace with crabs and pelicans before the armada of tourist boats arrive. We watch this spectacle with amusement and snorkel around the island for a bit.

The next morning, we sail out of the reef to Port-Louis, our last stop on Guadeloupe for the time being. We anchor in the crystal-clear water in front of the harbor next to ZOOK and immediately jump into the water. Later, we take the dinghies to ‘Plage Du Souffleur’ where we spend the day with our friends from ZOOK and ELLA, jump into the waves ourselves, and above all, watch the many surfers who cavort here. Port-Louis is still very much under construction after Hurricane Irma in September 2017, but it is interesting and colorful to walk through the streets with lots of street art.

Over the course of this month on Guadeloupe, we fell in love with the island. We will be back for more. We do not know yet, that we’ll be back just a few weeks later.